Association between doses of the 'Welcome to School' intervention and mental health and resilience among young newcomer immigrants and refugees.
Agnes Brunak, Ilse Derluyn, Susanne Rosthøj et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
In 30 seconds
This cluster-randomised study examined whether exposure to different numbers of Welcome to School modules was associated with mental health and resilience among 11–22-year-old immigrant and refugee newcomers in Denmark, Belgium and Norway. COVID-19 school closures led intervention participants to receive varying doses of the 14-module programme. Among 147 participants, adjusted analyses found that emotional symptoms scores decreased by 0.19 (95% confidence interval 0.06; 0.32) per module received. No significant dose-response associations were identified for resilience or the other measured mental health outcomes.
Key findings
- Emotional symptoms scores decreased by 0.19 (95% confidence interval 0.06; 0.32) per Welcome to School module received.
- No significant dose-response associations were found for resilience, total difficulties, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems or prosocial behaviour.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that intervention exposure may matter when schools deliver mental health support to newcomer youth. The association with emotional symptoms offers a reason to examine programme dose, while the absence of associations for other outcomes cautions against assuming broad benefits across mental health and resilience measures.
What to keep in mind
COVID-19 closures produced variation in intervention exposure, and the analysis included 147 participants. The study assessed dose associations rather than the effectiveness of the full intervention.